The firm that called me was Machol & Johannes, LLC. They said they were a law firm calling about collections. They did not ask for anyone who lives here by name, and upon researching them, none of the people listed on their website of www.mjfirm.com has a Bar number in Colorado where they are based. They "do business" in Colorado, Washington state, Oregon, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Oklahoma.
They keep changing the name of the business, so watch out very carefully for them. Names in the business are:
Gronowski, Arianne (Attorney) Johannes, Randall DKaplan, James A.Machol, Jacques A. IIIMachol, Jacques A. Jr.Spencer, Chad (Attorney). Look for any combination of these names on your caller ID.
Wow. With all all these comments, where does mine compete. Anyways; I received a letter in the mail today from a law firm named Machol & Johannes LLC with main phone # 303-830-0075,
And toll free 866-729-3328. From 700 17th Street Suite 200, Denver CO. This is the second letter I've received about Barclays Bank Delaware ccrd. Second attorney in two months for $2030.00. I don't talk to them. The first attorney was in Utah named Johnson Mark LLC. The lawyers for M&J equal: Jacques Machol III, Randall Johannes, Roger Rahlfs, and several others.
It says they haven't determined if they are gonna sue me or not.
Not Providing Legal Advise Here ... Just Experience & Experience & Experience ....
Machol & Johannes file collections suits against probably 90% of those they are trying to collect money's from that refuse to pay. They get paid on a contingency, a percentage of what they actually collect, irregardless of how much it costs them to collect it. For this reason they would rather settle then sue.
However, the lower-level account reps have no power or authority to settle with you. They will only consider offers that are 80% or higher with most of the money being in lump-sum.
If you have an attorney & refer them to your attorney, frequently they will drop the case or will settle for 15% to 25%.
If you don't have an attorney .... & they file suit (which is almost a guarantee), BE SURE TO FILE AN ANSWER! They bank on you not showing up &/or not filing an answer & they will get a default judgement which will allow them to seize bank accounts without notice & garnish wages & attach property.
The initial court hearing is usually geared at settling with M&J setting all the terms & usually walking all over the defendant, so I suggest you file an answer with the court & pay the court fees BEFORE the hearing date.
The court will schedule another date & invariably M&J will suddenly be willing to settle for 20% to 33% to avoid going to court ... & willing to take monthly payments. THE ADVANTAGE here is that the settlement is ordered by & overseen by the court & M&J can do nothing else without the Court ordering it.
Document Everything With These People!
If you tell them not to contact you via telephone, that all contact should be via US Mail ... & They Continue To Call (Which They Will), You Have A $1000 FDCPA Violation Claim Against them (can only claim $1000 even they call you 100 times, unless they are calling you about different accounts).
There are numerous other parts of the FDCPA that they violate frequently, like failing to provide validation/verification of debt when you request it ... which technically bars them from collecting until they provide it to you.
So Document Everything!
When They file suit to collect from you .... You file a counter-suit for every Federal & State FDCAP violation that you have documents.
Collections Law Firms keep a database of people that sue them & counter-sue & counter-claim & they share the data with other collections law firms .... what that means is that if you are known to file counter-suits etc they are less likely to aggressively pursue you.
Also to go with comment above: I'm looking at the letter and it says thier licensed in CO, WA, OR, WY, ID, UT, and OK.
Well I went online to mjfirm.com and thier licensed in all of them except IDAHO. They changed it to New Mexico.